I’m running for City Council to address our citywide affordable housing crisis. This issue deserves proactive leadership with empathy, urgency, and tangible solutions that ease the costs of rent and homeownership in our city.

My name is Mitra Jalali Nelson, and I live in a household where I support my family as the primary income earner – something I have done on and off for the past 10 years. My immediate relatives who depend on me aren’t able to participate in the workforce full time. The weight of our family’s financial burdens falls on me.

Where should we build new, affordable housing to help meet the growth in our city? What should happen to that abandoned parking lot near my house? How can our public parks better promote racial equity? How can we have a say in the projects that are being proposed in our neighborhoods?